Hand-rotatable plug valve with motorized longitudinally-movable gate rotating for use as a stopcock with laboratory glassware in chemical laboratory automation and other applications
OwnerLester F. Ludwiginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hand-rotatable motorized-aperture plug arrangement for use as a stopcock in articles of traditional and legacy laboratory glassware of arbitrary complexity. The hand-rotatable plug additionally comprises a longitudinally-movable gate whose gate position is changed by a stepper or D.C. electrical motor. As the gate position is changed, the amount of flow can be varied. Hand-rotation operation of the plug itself can be used to force flow turn-off. The gate position can be monitored by a sensor and can be computer-controlled for use with an article of laboratory glassware for controlling and/or directing the flow of chemical materials.
Claims14
A motorized laboratory hand-rotatable stopcock plug for use within an article of chemical glassware comprising at least one stopcock valve for controlling the flow of chemical materials, the motorized laboratory hand-rotatable stopcock plug comprising:
- a hand-rotatable stopcock plug having an inlet port and an outlet port;
- an electrically-operated motor associated with the hand-rotatable stopcock plug for insertion installation and hand-rotation operation within a stopcock body of an article of chemical glassware, the hand-rotatable rotatable plug further comprising a longitudinally-movable gate, the longitudinally-movable gate movable to a position determined by the electrically-operated motor,
- wherein a cross-sectional area of the longitudinally-movable gate varies with respect to the inlet port and the outlet port when the rotatable plug is rotated, and
- wherein the longitudinally-movable gate defines an area for carrying the flow of chemical materials.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.